Renardo Sidney stretched out his 6-foot-10 frame at center court, seemingly without a care in the world during pregame warmups, and teammate Malik Story nonchalantly drained jump shot after jump shot from the baseline in front of numerous interested onlookers.

James Harden dribbled the ball between his legs and behind his back several times from the top of the key while smiling and bobbing his head to the music being blared over the loudspeakers with fiveminutes left before the opening tipoff.

The trio from perennial Southern California powerhouse Artesia High, ranked No. 4 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports and No. 12 in the nation according to USA Today, looked as relaxed as can be before the start of Tuesday’s second-round game against host Simi Valley.

Little changed once the referee tossed the ball into the air as the Pioneers from Lakewood jumped out to an early and were relentless until the final seconds ticked off the clock of an 89-60 victory, which advanced them to the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Div. I-AA playoffs.

“They’re good, very good, unbelievably athletic,” Simi Valley coach Christian Aurand said. “They’re definitely one of the best teams we faced this year. Probably one of the best teams to ever play in this gym.”

Sidney was particularly impressive in the early going. The highly touted sophomore scored eight points in the first quarter, including three dunks, one over Grant Keller, the other on Brandon Simon and the last one coming on an alley-oop pass from Harden.

Simi Valley (21-7), however, was resilient and trailed 21-14 entering the second quarter. Artesia (26-2) answered with an 11-2 run to open up a 32-16 lead with 4:57 before halftime and ended up ahead by 10points at the intermission.

Any thoughts Simi Valley might have had at pulling off an improbable upset were thwarted in the third quarter as Sidney scored six quick points inside, Harden, bound for Arizona State, had a breakaway one-handed dunk, and Story buried an outside jumper.

Next thing you know, Simi Valley trailed by 18 points heading into the fourth quarter.

“We were confident heading into this game and brought our A game,” Harden said. “We want to win a state title and this was just one of the steps along the way.”‘

Sidney finished with 30points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks before heading to the bench for good with 4:49 remaining and Artesia leading 80-51.

“Yeah, I got off tonight, but this is about our team,” said Sidney, who had seven dunks. “We want to win a championship ring. We can’t get big heads and worry about rankings and what people say about us. Were staying humble. We’re focused.”

Harden followed Sidney to the bench with eight points, sixrebounds, four assists and three blocks after being in foul trouble for a majority of the game.

Story, who committed to USC, exited the game with 3:42 left and contributed 14points, eight assists and four rebounds.

“We have some great individuals on this team and I think everyone saw that here tonight, but they also understand about the team aspect of this game,” Artesia coach Loren Grover said. “They want to win a championship and are willing to work hard to achieve the goal.”